


Worth the Trouble

by Chancy_Lurking



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Banned Together Bingo, Gen, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, POV Katara (Avatar), Protective Katara (Avatar), Protective Toph Beifong, Revenge, Vandalism, Wordcount: 100-500
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-16
Updated: 2020-12-16
Packaged: 2021-03-11 05:13:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 500
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28099752
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Chancy_Lurking/pseuds/Chancy_Lurking
Summary: Sokka and Zuko are too close to the age where legal trouble could complicate their futures. Aang was there, too, but he’s going into ministry and Katara doesn’t want ‘felony criminal mischief’ smeared across his record as a priest.Katara doesn’t shrink from the idea of explaining how she got the charge if it comes to that.(The Gaang wrecks Ozai's house. That's not the important part.)
Relationships: The Gaang & Zuko (Avatar)
Kudos: 64
Collections: Banned Together Bingo 2020





	Worth the Trouble

**Author's Note:**

> Banned Together Bingo Square: Naughty Children

The Beifongs are rich and Hakoda is the Senator. That, in addition to Katara and Toph having no priors, is the logic behind saying they were the ones who did the damage.

Sokka and Zuko are too close to the age where legal trouble could complicate their futures. Aang was there, too, but he’s going into ministry and Katara doesn’t want ‘ _felony criminal mischief_ ’ smeared across his record as a priest.

Katara doesn’t shrink from the idea of explaining how she got the charge if it comes to that. Toph _revels_ in destroying the idea that she is fragile or innocent; if this had gone differently, she might still be smiling.

Ozai’s house is a wreck.

Everything they found in his kitchen was spread all over the walls, ground into the carpets; handfuls of ground meat hidden in his shoes, the backs of his closets. They called everyone in his recently called list, blasting loud, vulgar music. His computer was unlocked, so they signed him up for a spam mailing list to get thousands of emails a day.

Then Katara wandered into Azula’s room.

It wasn’t with any real intent other than to be nosy; to glimpse the room of the girl Ozai kept after sending his _grievously wounded_ son to live with an uncle miles away.

She wasn’t looking for the video.

Azula looked every bit the princess on screen for about the first two minutes of her GRWM. Then a door opened off-screen and her face paled. The camera angled abruptly downward and Katara couldn’t see anything, but she heard the words, heard the conversation spin out of control before Azula went quiet under Ozai’s voice, smooth and cold as a knife.

“ _You watched Zuko burn for want of obedience. You’re vain enough to not make me do that to you, too, aren’t you?_ ”

“Holy _shit_ ,” Toph said from the doorway, startling Katara into realizing she was crying. “His _dad…_?” and she’d stopped, horrified, still smelling the ointments and healing skin of their first meeting.

Of the things they hated about Ozai, they’d been missing one glaring, barely-healed reason.

Zuko had never said Ozai was the one who actually _did_ it.

“They’re gonna ask how we got it,” Toph says, because of course they’re going to take it.

They cut it close, saving the video on Katara’s phone while they can hear sirens in the distance, but they get out without saying a word, not while Zuko can hear. Katara sends Toph a copy to hold in case things go wrong.

Then she talks to her dad.

Hakoda is _not happy_ , but he has never been impartial to his daughter’s tears. He watches the video. Then he calls the police and child protective services.

Toph and Katara wind up with community service and a fine the Beifongs are kind enough to pay off. A small price for the amount of trouble they caused Ozai.

And an even smaller price for Zuko finally getting justice and Azula getting free.

**Author's Note:**

> Remember, friends: this is just fanfiction, but IRL ACAB. Get evidence onto the cloud or copied to trusted friends/lawyers first, never pigs. They even have apps for this. Repeat after me, **“I am invoking my right to have a lawyer present and I am invoking my right to remain silent.”** Be safe, kiddos.


End file.
